Detecting plug-in and fragment issues with software products

ABSTRACT

The present invention comprises utility capable of detecting various issues with plug-ins and fragments in Eclipse and Eclipse-based products. In order to find issues, the utility first seeks information about the sites available in the given product. Once the sites have been located, the utility seeks information about the plug-ins and fragments in each site that are expected to resolve in the product. Once the utility has determined what particular plug-ins and fragments are expected to resolve in each site, it parses both the text and XML manifest of each candidate plug-in and fragments in order to gather the following information: Once the above information of each candidate plug-in and fragment has been gathered, the utility analyzes the particular information in details and performs a series of tests to find whether the candidate plug-ins and fragments have issues. For each issue that the utility finds, a detailed explanation regarding the particular issue, cause and details leading to resolution of the issue is provided in an interactive HTML based report which is given to the user at the end of the investigation.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to issues detection.Specifically, the present invention detects issues with plug-ins and/orfragments in Eclipse and related products.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Eclipse is an ongoing project in support of an open source integrateddevelopment environment (IDE). Eclipse provides a framework and a basicplatform (called the Eclipse Platform) that allows a company to build anintegrated development environment from plug-in software componentsprovided by Eclipse members. Eclipse members include Hewlett Packard,IBM, and many other companies. A member company must offer an Eclipseplug-in product within a year of joining.

A major advantage to an open source development platform is that anenterprise can mix and match Eclipse-conforming products rather thanbeing committed to a single vendor's suite of development products.Although the Eclipse Platform is written in Java, it supports plug-insthat allow developers to develop and test code written in otherlanguages. The Eclipse architectural framework supports plug-ins forJava development tools, C and C++ development tools, test andperformance tools, Web tools, business intelligence and reporting,modeling and graphical frameworks, project models, runtime and updatecapabilities, and user interface building.

The Eclipse Framework is composed of plug-ins, fragments and features(let's call them bundles in general for simplicity). Plug-ins introducefunctionality to the framework. Fragments internationalize plug-ins byproviding translations for the externalized strings of plug-ins in orderfor their functionality to be seen and used in different languages.Features componentized plug-ins and fragments by grouping them togetherin order to be installed, uninstalled, enabled and disabled as groupsinstead of individuals. Unfortunately, plug-ins and fragments very oftenhave “issues”, such as being missing, being unresolved, etc. Currentlyno approach provides a way to resolve such issues in Eclipse or othersimilar products. In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for asolution that solves at least one of these deficiencies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention teaches a utility capable of detecting variousissues with plug-ins and fragments in Eclipse and Eclipse basedproducts. In order to find issues, the utility first seeks informationabout the sites available in the given product. In Eclipse basedapplication development, sites are defined as the locations containingfeatures, plug-ins and fragments that compose the product. Once thesites have been located, the utility seeks information about theplug-ins and fragments in each site that are expected to resolve in theproduct. Once the utility has determined what particular plug-ins andfragments are expected to resolve in each site, it parses both the textand XML manifest of each candidate plug-in and fragments in order togather the following information:

Identification (i.e. plug-in id)

Version

Platform filters such as platform, architecture, language and otherconstrains

Dependent plug-ins fragments

Included plug-ins and fragments

Information regarding host plug-in (only for fragments)

Other info

Once the above information of each candidate plug-in and fragment hasbeen gathered, the utility analyzes the particular information indetails and performs a series of tests to find whether the candidateplug-ins and fragments have issues. For each issue that the utilityfinds, a detailed explanation regarding the particular issue, cause andpossible solutions to resolve the issue is provided in an interactiveHTML based report which is given to the user at the end of theinvestigation. The following is a set of issues that the utility iscapable of finding.

Plug-ins and fragments missing from a given product and hierarchies ofplug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to the absence of eachmissing plug-in and fragment

Hierarchy of plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to theabsence of a required version of other plug-ins and fragments

Plug-ins and fragments with corrupted or no manifests and hierarchies ofplug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to the plug-ins andfragments with corrupted or no manifests

Fragments that are not resolved due to the absence of their hostplug-ins

Hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to theunavailability of each missing host plug-in

Plug-ins and fragments prevented from resolving due to unsatisfiedplatform filters and execution environments

Plug-ins and fragments prevented from resolving due contradictionsbetween their versions and the Eclipse Versioning Convention, and howeach such contradiction influences the resolution of the particularplug-in and fragment

Unavailable optional dependencies (plug-ins and fragments) of plug-insand fragments

Hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that may not be resolved properlydue to the absence of each missing optional dependency

Unavailability of a particular version of the optional dependencies(plug-ins and fragments) of plug-ins and fragments

Hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that may not be resolved properlydue to the absence of the particular version of each optional dependency

In addition, the plug-ins and fragments that are excluded from theproduct by the site configurations are also analyzed. The user isinformed about these excluded plug-ins and fragments in order to allowhim/her to decide whether each such plug-in and fragment is supposed tobe excluded from product. Experience demonstrates that plug-ins andfragments are sometimes excluded from product by mistake. When ithappens, this particular functionality of the utility enables the userto pinpoint such plug-ins and fragments, and then include them to theproduct sooner than later.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a method for detectingissues in a software product, comprising: obtaining informationpertaining to a set (a quantity of one or more as defined herein) ofplug-ins and fragments available from a set of sites registered with aparticular instance of the software product; analyzing the informationand performing a set of tests to determine whether the set of plug-insand fragments have issues; and providing, for each issue, detailsregarding the issue, its cause and details leading to resolution of theissue.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a system for detectingissues in a software product, comprising: a system for obtaininginformation pertaining to a set of plug-ins and fragments available froma set of sites registered with a particular instance of the softwareproduct; a system for analyzing the information and performing a set oftests to determine whether the set of plug-ins and fragments haveissues; and a system for providing, for each issue, details regardingthe issue, its cause and details leading to resolution of the issue.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a program productstored on a computer readable medium for detecting issues in a softwareproduct, the computer readable medium comprising program code forcausing a computer system to: obtain information pertaining to a set ofplug-ins and fragments available from a set of sites registered with aparticular instance of the software product; analyze the information andperforming a set of tests to determine whether the set of plug-ins andfragments have issues; and provide, for each issue, details regardingthe issue, its cause and details leading to resolution of the issue.

A fourth aspect of the present invention provides a method for deployinga system for detecting issues in a software product, comprising:providing a computer infrastructure being operable to: obtaininformation pertaining to a set of plug-ins and fragments available froma set of sites registered with a particular instance of the softwareproduct; analyze the information and performing a set of tests todetermine whether the set of plug-ins and fragments have issues; andprovide, for each issue, details regarding the issue, its cause anddetails leading to resolution of the issue.

A fifth aspect of the present invention provides a computer-implementedbusiness method for detecting issues in a software product, comprising:obtaining information pertaining to a set of plug-ins and fragmentsavailable from a set of sites registered with a particular instance ofthe software product; analyzing the information and performing a set oftests to determine whether the set of plug-ins and fragments haveissues; and providing, for each issue, details regarding the issue, itscause and details leading to resolution of the issue.

A sixth aspect of the present invention provides a data processingsystem for detecting issues in a software product, comprising: a memorymedium comprising instructions; a bus coupled to the memory medium; anda processor coupled to the bus that when executing the instructionscauses the data processing system to: obtain information pertaining to aset of plug-ins and fragments available from a set of sites registeredwith a particular instance of the software product; analyze theinformation and performing a set of tests to determine whether the setof plug-ins and fragments have issues; and provide, for each issue,details regarding the issue, its cause and details leading to resolutionof the issue.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of this invention will be more readilyunderstood from the following detailed description of the variousaspects of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts illustrative hierarchical dependent structures accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 2 an illustrative screenshot of a select perspective dialogaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative screenshot of a utility view according tothe present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a more specific computerized implementation according tothe present invention.

The drawings are not necessarily to scale. The drawings are merelyschematic representations, not intended to portray specific parametersof the invention. The drawings are intended to depict only typicalembodiments of the invention, and therefore should not be considered aslimiting the scope of the invention. In the drawings, like numberingrepresents like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

For convenience, the Detailed Description of the Invention has thefollowing Sections:

I. General Description

-   -   A. Illustrative Examples    -   B. Utility Operation

II. Computerized Implementation

I. General Description

It should be understood in advance that although this disclosure iswritten with respect to detecting plug-in/fragment issues for Eclipseand Eclipse-based products, the teachings herein could be expanded toother similar products. In any event, as indicated above, the presentinvention teaches a utility capable of detecting various issues withplug-ins and fragments in Eclipse and Eclipse-based products. In orderto find issues, the utility first seeks information about the sitesavailable in the given product. In Eclipse based applicationdevelopment, sites are defined as the locations containing features,plug-ins and fragments that compose the product. Once the sites havebeen located, the utility seeks information about the plug-ins andfragments in each site that are expected to resolve in the product. Oncethe utility has determined what particular plug-ins and fragments areexpected to resolve in each site, it parses both the text and XMLmanifest of each candidate plug-in and fragments in order to gather thefollowing information:

Identification (i.e. plug-in id)

Version

Platform filters such as platform, architecture, language and otherconstrains

Dependent plug-ins fragments

Included plug-ins and fragments

Information regarding host plug-in (only for fragments)

Other info

Once the above information of each candidate plug-in and fragment hasbeen gathered, the utility analyzes the particular information indetails and performs a series of tests to find whether the candidateplug-ins and fragments have issues. For each issue that the utilityfinds, a detailed explanation regarding the particular issue, cause andpossible solutions to resolve the issue is provided in an interactiveHTML based report which is given to the user at the end of theinvestigation. The following is a set of issues that the utility iscapable of finding.

Plug-ins and fragments missing from a given product and hierarchies ofplug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to the absence of eachmissing plug-in and fragment

Hierarchy of plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to theabsence of a required version of other plug-ins and fragments

Plug-ins and fragments with corrupted or no manifests and hierarchies ofplug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to the plug-ins andfragments with corrupted or no manifests

Fragments that are not resolved due to the absence of their hostplug-ins

Hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to theunavailability of each missing host plug-in

Plug-ins and fragments prevented from resolving due to unsatisfiedplatform filters and execution environments

Plug-ins and fragments prevented from resolving due contradictionsbetween their versions and the Eclipse Versioning Convention, and howeach such contradiction influences the resolution of the particularplug-in and fragment

Unavailable optional dependencies (plug-ins and fragments) of plug-insand fragments

Hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that may not be resolved properlydue to the absence of each missing optional dependency

Unavailability of a particular version of the optional dependencies(plug-ins and fragments) of plug-ins and fragments

Hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that may not be resolved properlydue to the absence of the particular version of each optional dependency

In addition, the plug-ins and fragments that are excluded from theproduct by the site configurations are also analyzed. The user isinformed about these excluded plug-ins and fragments in order to allowhim/her to decide whether each such plug-in and fragment is supposed tobe excluded from product. Experience demonstrates that plug-ins andfragments are sometimes excluded from product by mistake. When ithappens, this particular functionality of the utility enables the userto pinpoint such plug-ins and fragments, and then include them to theproduct sooner than later.

A. ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

This section will describe in greater detail various issues that couldexist with respect to plug-ins and/or fragments.

Plug-ins and Fragments with invalid, corrupted or no manifests: Eachplug-in, fragment and feature in Eclipse must have a valid manifest inorder for it to be integrated into the framework. A plug-in or fragmentwith an invalid, corrupted or no manifest contributes no functionalityeven though the particular bundle is physically present in the product.In the fields of Release Engineering as well as Software QualityEngineering, it is extremely important for the engineer to identify suchplug-ins and fragments and restore their manifests as quickly aspossible. The question here is how to discover such plug-ins andfragments without consuming a great deal of resources and effort.

If the product is composed of a few bundles, the Release Engineer may beable to manually detect the plug-ins and fragments with corruptedmanifests and restore them appropriately. However, in reality, Eclipsebased products are not necessarily composed of a small number ofplug-ins and fragments. For instance, the IBM product Rational SoftwareArchitect (RSA) version 6.0 consists of over 10,000 plug-ins andfragments. Manually detecting the bundles with invalid, corrupted and nomanifests in such a product may become impossible. In addition,performing a formal test cycle to discover such issues could be costlyand time consuming. Fortunately, the utility of the present inventionsolves this problem by automatically detecting such bundles.

Plug-ins and Fragments with versioning errors: The Eclipse VersioningConvention mandates that the version of a plug-in or fragment must be inthe following form major.minor.service.qualifier. The major, the minorand the service identifiers must be numerals. The qualifier on the otherhand may contain numerals or strings at the developer's convenience. Inaddition, the version must not contain extra identifiers than theallowed options. A plug-in or fragment will not be resolved if itsversion violates these standards. Experience demonstrates that thesoftware developers (mostly who are new to Eclipse) do not sometimesfollow the versioning convention as is. As a result, the plug-ins andfragments delivered by such individuals may not be resolved even thoughthe bundles themselves are physically present in the product. As statedbefore, if a plug-in is not resolved, it will contribute nofunctionality to the product. Therefore, it is important for the ReleaseEngineer to identify such plug-ins and fragments and correct theirversions as quickly as possible. Manually detecting such issues would beimpossible if the product was composed of a large number of plug-ins andfragments. Performing a formal test cycle to discover such issues couldbecome costly and time consuming. Fortunately, the utility of thepresent invention solves this problem by automatically discovering suchissues.

Plug-ins and Fragments with incompatible platform filters: The platformfilter of a plug-in or fragment specifies the platform that theparticular bundle is allowed to be resolved. For instance, the followingplatform filter specifies that the corresponding bundle must only beresolved on a platform running on an x86 architecture and using a Linuxoperating system built on the Motif windowing system.

-   -   (& (osgi.arch=x86) (osgi.os=linux) (osgi.ws=motif))

If a plug-in with the above platform filter is included into a productdeveloped for the Windows platform, the targeted plug-in will notresolve and, therefore, will contribute no functionality to the product.This means that including a plug-in designed for one platform into aproduct developed for another platform not only is useless, but alsoincreases the size of the product unnecessarily. Experience teaches usthat plug-ins and fragments designed for one platform are sometimesincluded into a product developed for another platform due to variousreasons. It is the responsibility of the Release Engineer to identifysuch bundles and remove them from the product sooner than later.

Experience also demonstrates that the developers (mostly who are new toEclipse) sometimes assign incorrect platform filters by making thecorresponding plug-ins and fragments ineffective on the targetedplatform. The Release Engineer must also identify such bundles andcorrect their platform filters as quickly as possible. Manuallydetecting and correcting the related issue might be possible if theproduct was composed of a small number of plug-ins and fragments.Performing a formal test cycle to recognize such plug-ins and fragmentscould become costly and time consuming. Fortunately, the utility of thepresent invention solves this problem by automatically detecting thisissue.

Plug-ins and Fragments with unavailable dependencies: The plug-ins inEclipse often reuse functionality that other plug-ins contribute to theproduct. These associations form strong hierarchical dependences betweenplug-ins which enforces a plug-in to be resolved only if all of itsdependencies are resolved in the product. For a more specific example ofhierarchical dependent structures 10, refer to FIG. 1. In this example,assume that plug-in p1 depends upon the functionality provided byplug-in p2, plug-in p2 depends upon the functionality provided byplug-in p3 and plug-in p3 depends upon the functionality provided byplug-in p4. In this particular example, plug-in p1 requires theexistence of plug-in p2 in order to be resolved in the product.Similarly, plug-in p2 requires the existence of plug-in p3 and plug-inp3 requires the existence of plug-in p4 in order to be resolved in theproduct. This hierarchical dependency structure requires all of itsparticipants such as plug-ins p1, p2, p3 and p4 to be resolved in theproduct.

Now assume that plug-in p4 in FIG. 1 is mistakenly excluded from theproduct. In such a situation, the complete dependency hierarchy willcollapse by making the plug-ins p1, p2 and p3 unresolved even though theplug-ins p1, p2 and p3 are physically present in the product. If theRelease Engineer has somehow known that the plug-in p4 is missing fromthe product and that is what is preventing the rest of the plug-ins p1,p2 and p3 from being resolved, then this particular issue can easily beresolved by simply introducing the missing plug-in p4 into the product.The question here is how to identify that it is the unavailability ofplug-in p4 is the root cause of the problem. Experience shows thatmanually detecting and correcting such issues would be exhaustivelylengthy and time consuming. Therefore, such process could quickly becomeimpossible as the number of plug-ins in the product increases.Fortunately, the utility of the present invention solves this problem byautomatically detecting this issue.

Plug-ins and Fragments with unavailable optional dependencies:Previously, it was mentioned that the dependences between plug-ins andfragments would prevent bundles from resolving if all of the associateddependencies are not available or resolved in the product. However, if adependency of a plug-in or fragment is made optional, the associatedplug-in or fragment will still be resolved even though the particulardependency may not be available or resolved in the product. Thisbehavior of Eclipse makes plug-in development more flexible, butintroduces a new breed of issues and challenges to the fields ofSoftware Quality Engineering and Release Engineering.

Now assume that a plug-in p1 has an optional dependency. Under thesecircumstances, the plug-in p1 will still be resolved even though theplug-in p2 was mistakenly excluded from the product. In addition,Eclipse would assume that the particular product must be properlyconfigured, therefore, would not raise concerns about the unavailabilityof the plug-in p2 what so ever.

The question here is how a Release Engineer must identify such issuesand correct them as soon as possible. Experience shows that manuallydetecting and correcting such issues could be exhaustively lengthy andtime consuming. Performing a formal test cycle to recognize the relatedissue might be costly and time consuming. Fortunately, the utility ofthe present invention solves this problem by automatically detectingthis issue.

B. UTILITY OPERATION

Installing the Utility: The following steps can be completed in order toinstall the utility:

Download and extract the archived update site file into a directory.This step will create the update site of the utility (i.e. a newdirectory named update_site) at the chosen location.

Start Eclipse or Eclipse based product.

Launch the Eclipse Update Manager by selecting Help→SoftwareUpdates→File and Install . . . from the main menu of the product. TheInstall/Update Dialog should be launched.

Select the Search for new features to install option from theInstall/Update Dialog and press Next.

Add the directory update_site from step 1 as a new local site to theInstall/Update Dialog and press Finish. The Updates Dialog is displayed.Press Next button on the Updates Dialog.

Accept the license agreement on the Install Dialog and press Next.

Select utility as the feature to install on the Install Dialog and pressFinish.

Accept to restart the product when prompted in order for utility to takeeffect.

Launching utility in Interactive Mode: The following steps can becompleted in order to launch the utility in the interactive mode:

Select Window→Open Perspective→Other . . . from the main menu of Eclipseor Eclipse based product. The Select Perspective dialog should belaunched.

Select Quality Engineering from the list of perspectives and press theOK button. A screenshot of the Select Perspective dialog 20 is shown inFIG. 2

Ensure that the Quality Engineering perspective appears on the workbenchAlso ensure that the utility View appears in the bottom right-hand paneof the Quality Engineering Perspective. A screenshot of the Utility View30 is shown in FIG. 3.

Report Customization: The following options, which are available underthe Report Customizations section 32, can be used in order topersonalize the report generated by this utility:

Suppress Warning From Report: If selected, utility will ignore reportingthe warnings that it finds with regards to the plug-ins and thefragments in the product.

Limit Reporting Affected Hierarchies: If selected, utility will limitreporting unresolved plug-in and fragment hierarchies to a certainextent in order to speed up the investigation. It has been proven thatthis particular option would significantly improve the performance ofutility when the utility is launched on a defective product.

The Preferences section 34 can be used as desired in order to alter thename of the report and the name of the project, which will contain thereport that utility generates. Finally, you may press the LaunchInvestigation button 36 on the Utility View 30 in order to invoke theutility. A progress monitor is displayed while the investigation isbeing performed. Once the investigation is completed, a report will begenerated in HTML and displayed in the editor pane which is located inthe upper portion of the Quality Engineering Perspective

Launching utility in Silent Mode: The following can be executed on thecommand prompt in order to launch utility in the silent mode:

<path to Eclipse or Eclipse based product>   -applicationcom.ibm.qetools.bundledoctor.investigate   -pathToReport <path to reportfile>

Where,

-   -   <path to Eclipse or Eclipse based product>: absolute or relative        path to the eclipse executable (eclipse.exe on Windows or        eclipse.bin on Linux)    -   “<path to report file>: absolute or relative path to the report        file

Report Customizations: The following options can be used as desired inorder to customize the report generated by this utility:

-   -   suppressWarningFromReport: If provided, utility will ignore        reporting the warnings that it finds with regards to the        plug-ins and the fragments in the product.    -   limitReportingAffectedHierarchies: If provided, utility will        limit reporting unresolved plug-in and fragment hierarchies to a        certain extent in order to speed up the investigation. It has        been proven that this particular option would significantly        improve the performance of utility when the utility is launched        on a defective product.

Utility Report: The utility generates a report reflecting the issueswith plug-ins and fragments at the end of its investigation. The reportis generated in HTML and contains the following sections.

Section 1: plug-ins and fragments missing from the product. Section 1 ofthe report provides a complete list of plug-ins and fragments which aremissing from the product. This section also reports the hierarchies ofbundles that are not resolved due to the unavailability of each missingplug-in and fragment. Note that a missing bundle may prevent otherplug-ins and fragments, which directly or indirectly depend upon it,from resolving in the product. Unresolved bundles contribute nofunctionality even though the bundles themselves are physically presentin the product.

Section 2: plug-ins and fragments with no manifests Section 2 provides acomplete list of plug-ins and fragments with invalid, corrupted or nomanifests. A plug-in or fragment with an invalid, corrupted or nomanifest will not be resolved. Therefore, such bundles will contributeno functionality even though the bundles themselves are physicallypresent in the product.

Section 3: plug-ins and fragments with versioning errors Section 3provides information about plug-ins and fragments that do not complywith the Eclipse Versioning Convention (discussed in Section 1.1.3).This section also provides instructions on adjusting the version stringsof such bundles in order for them to comply with the convention. Theplug-ins and fragments that don't comply with the Eclipse VersioningConvention will not be resolved in product. Therefore, such bundlesprovide no functionality even though they themselves are physicallypresent in the product.

Section 4: plug-ins and fragments disabled due to platform filtersSection 4 provides information about plug-ins and fragments which weredisabled due to the incompatible platform filters that are assigned tothem. This section also provides instructions on adjusting the platformfilters of such bundles in order for them to be able to resolve on thetargeted platforms. If a plug-in or fragment carries a platform filterthat doesn't match the system which hosts the product, the bundle itselfwill not be resolved on the particular host and hence contributes nofunctionality to the product.

Section 5: plug-ins and fragments with unavailable optional dependenciesSection 5 provides information about plug-ins and fragments withunavailable optional dependencies. If a dependency of a plug-in orfragment is made optional, the associated plug-in or fragment will beresolved even though the particular dependency may not be available orresolved in the product. This behavior of Eclipse makes plug-indevelopment more flexible, but introduces a new breed of issues andchallenges to the fields of Software Quality Engineering and ReleaseEngineering.

Section 6: plug-ins and fragments with errors and warnings Section 6provides a detailed description about all the errors and warnings foundwith regards to each plug-in and fragment in the product. Theinformation that has been presented in the above five sections is alsoincluded in this section with more details.

II. Computerized Implementation

Referring now to FIG. 4, a computerized implementation 100 of thepresent invention is shown. As depicted, implementation 100 includesitem computer system 104 deployed within a computer infrastructure 102.This is intended to demonstrate, among other things, that the presentinvention could be implemented within a network environment (e.g., theInternet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), avirtual private network (VPN), etc., or on a stand-alone computersystem. In the case of the former, communication throughout the networkcan occur via any combination of various types of communications links.For example, the communication links can comprise addressableconnections that may utilize any combination of wired and/or wirelesstransmission methods. Where communications occur via the Internet,connectivity could be provided by conventional TCP/IP sockets-basedprotocol, and an Internet service provider could be used to establishconnectivity to the Internet. Still yet, computer infrastructure 102 isintended to demonstrate that some or all of the components ofimplementation 100 could be deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by aservice provider who offers to implement, deploy, and/or perform thefunctions of the present invention for others.

As shown, item computer system 104 of implementation 100 includes aprocessing unit 106, a memory 108, a bus 110, and device interfaces 112.Further, implementation 100 is shown having external devices 114, andstorage system 116. In general, processing unit 106 executes computerprogram code, such as utility 118 having modules 120 that provide thefunctionality described herein, which are stored in memory 108 and/orstorage system 116. While executing computer program code, processingunit 106 can read and/or write data to/from memory 108, storage system116, and/or device interfaces 112. Bus 110 provides a communication linkbetween each of the components in item computer system 104. Although notshown, item computer system 104 could also include I/O interfaces thatcommunicate with: one or more external devices 114 such as a keyboard, apointing device, a display, etc.); one or more devices that enable auser to interact with item computer system 104; and/or any devices(e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable item computer system 104to communicate with one or more other computing devices.

Computer infrastructure 102 is only illustrative of various types ofcomputer infrastructures for implementing the invention. For example, inone embodiment, computer infrastructure 102 comprises two or morecomputing devices (e.g., a server cluster) that communicate over anetwork to perform the various process of the invention. Moreover, itemcomputer system 104 is only representative of various possible computersystems that can include numerous combinations of hardware. To thisextent, in other embodiments, item computer system 104 can comprise anyspecific purpose computing article of manufacture comprising hardwareand/or computer program code for performing specific functions, anycomputing article of manufacture that comprises a combination ofspecific purpose and general purpose hardware/software, or the like. Ineach case, the program code and hardware can be created using standardprogramming and engineering techniques, respectively. Moreover,processing unit 106 may comprise a single processing unit, or bedistributed across one or more processing units in one or morelocations, e.g., on a client and server. Similarly, memory 108 and/orstorage system 116 can comprise any combination of various types of datastorage and/or transmission media that reside at one or more physicallocations. Further, device interfaces 112 can comprise any module forexchanging information with one or more external device 114. Stillfurther, it is understood that one or more additional components (e.g.,system software, math co-processing unit, etc.) not shown in FIG. 4 canbe included in item computer system 104.

Storage system 116 can be any type of system capable of providingstorage for information under the present invention. To this extent,storage system 116 could include one or more storage devices, such as amagnetic disk drive or an optical disk drive. In another embodiment,storage system 116 includes data distributed across, for example, alocal area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or a storage areanetwork (SAN) (not shown). In addition, although not shown, additionalcomponents, such as cache memory, communication systems, systemsoftware, etc., may be incorporated into item computer system 104.

Shown in memory 108 of item computer system 104 is utility 118, whichincludes a set (at least one) of modules 120. The modules generallyprovide the functions of the present invention as described herein.Specifically (among other things), set of modules 120 are configured to:identify the set of plug-ins and fragments expected to comprise thesoftware product; obtain information pertaining to a set of plug-ins andfragments available from a set (one or more) of sites 122 registeredwith a particular instance of the software product; analyze theinformation and performing a set of tests to determine whether the setof plug-ins and fragments have issues; provide, for each issue, detailsregarding the issue, its cause and details leading to resolution of theissue (shown as report(s) 124).

While shown and described herein as an approach for detecting issues ina software product it is understood that aspects of the inventionfurther provide various alternative embodiments. For example, in oneembodiment, the invention provides a computer-readable/useable mediumthat includes computer program code to enable a computer infrastructureto detect issues in a software product. To this extent, thecomputer-readable/useable medium includes program code that implementseach of the various process of the invention. It is understood that theterms computer-readable medium or computer useable medium comprises oneor more of any type of physical embodiment of the program code. Inparticular, the computer-readable/useable medium can comprise programcode embodied on one or more portable storage articles of manufacture(e.g., a compact disc, a magnetic disk, a tape, etc.), on one or moredata storage portions of a computing device, such as memory 108 (FIG. 4)and/or storage system 116 (FIG. 4) (e.g., a fixed disk, a read-onlymemory, a random access memory, a cache memory, etc.), and/or as a datasignal (e.g., a propagated signal) traveling over a network (e.g.,during a wired/wireless electronic distribution of the program code).

In another embodiment, the invention provides a business method thatperforms the process of the invention on a subscription, advertising,and/or fee basis. That is, a service provider, such as a SolutionIntegrator, could offer to detect issues in a software product. In thiscase, the service provider can create, maintain, and support, etc., acomputer infrastructure, such as computer infrastructure 102 (FIG. 4)that performs the process of the invention for one or more customers. Inreturn, the service provider can receive payment from the customer(s)under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the service providercan receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or morethird parties.

In still another embodiment, the invention provides acomputer-implemented method for detecting issues in a software product.In this case, a computer infrastructure, such as computer infrastructure102 (FIG. 4), can be provided and one or more systems for performing theprocess of the invention can be obtained (e.g., created, purchased,used, modified, etc.) and deployed to the computer infrastructure. Tothis extent, the deployment of a system can comprise one or more of: (1)installing program code on a computing device, such as item computersystem 104 (FIG. 4), from a computer-readable medium; (2) adding one ormore computing devices to the computer infrastructure; and (3)incorporating and/or modifying one or more existing systems of thecomputer infrastructure to enable the computer infrastructure to performthe process of the invention.

As used herein, it is understood that the terms “program code” and“computer program code” are synonymous and mean any expression, in anylanguage, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause acomputing device having an information processing capability to performa particular function either directly or after either or both of thefollowing: (a) conversion to another language, code or notation; and/or(b) reproduction in a different material form. To this extent, programcode can be embodied as one or more of: an application/software program,component software/a library of functions, an operating system, a basicdevice system/driver for a particular computing and/or data processingdevice, and the like.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode can be provided hereunder and can include at least one processorcommunicatively coupled, directly or indirectly, to memory element(s)through a system bus. The memory elements can include, but are notlimited to, local memory employed during actual execution of the programcode, bulk storage, and cache memories that provide temporary storage ofat least some program code in order to reduce the number of times codemust be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output ordevice devices (including, but not limited to, keyboards, displays,pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly orthrough intervening device controllers.

Network adapters also may be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems,remote printers, storage devices, and/or the like, through anycombination of intervening private or public networks. Illustrativenetwork adapters include, but are not limited to, modems, cable modemsand Ethernet cards.

The foregoing description of various aspects of the invention has beenpresented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed, and obviously, many modifications and variations arepossible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to aperson skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scopeof the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.

1. A method of developing a software product, comprising: receiving, ona computer system including at least one computing device, a request toevaluate a set of plug-ins and fragments corresponding to the softwareproduct as part of a quality engineering investigation of the softwareproduct; and evaluating the set of plug-ins and fragments in response tothe request using the computer system, the evaluating including:obtaining, on the computer system, information pertaining to the set ofplug-ins and fragments from a manifest corresponding to each plug-in andfragment in the set of plug-ins and fragments available from a set ofsites registered with a particular instance of the software product,wherein each site in the set of sites includes at least one plug-in inthe set of plug-ins and fragments, wherein each fragment in the set ofplug-ins and fragments internationalizes a corresponding plug-in in theset of plug-ins and fragments, and wherein the information includesversion information and dependency information for each plug-in andfragment in the set of plug-ins and fragments; analyzing the informationand performing a set of tests using the computer system to determinewhether the set of plug-ins and fragments have any one of a set ofissues, wherein the set of issues includes: an error relating to themanifest, an error relating to the version information, and an errorrelating to the dependency information; and providing, using thecomputer system and for each issue determined to be present, detailsregarding the issue, a cause of the issue, and details corresponding toresolution of the issue for use during the quality engineeringinvestigation.
 2. The method of claim 1, the evaluating furthercomprising identifying a complete set of plug-ins and fragments expectedto compose the software product, wherein the obtaining and analyzing areperformed for each plug-in and fragment in the complete set of plug-insand fragments.
 3. The method of claim 1, the information including: anidentification, a version, and platform filters, and the informationfurther including one or more of: dependent plug-ins fragments, includedplug-ins and fragments, and information regarding host plug-ins.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the providing includes outputting a reportcontaining the details for each of a set of issues determined to bepresent in the set of plug-ins and fragments corresponding to thesoftware product.
 5. The method of claim 4, the report being in HTMLformat and including a plurality of sections, each section correspondingto a unique type of issue.
 6. The method of claim 1, the set of issuesincluding: plug-ins and fragments with corrupted or no manifests, andhierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to theplug-ins and fragments with corrupted or no manifests, fragments thatare not resolved due to an absence of their host plug-ins, hierarchiesof plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to an unavailabilityof each missing host plug-in, plug-ins and fragments that are preventedfrom resolving due to unsatisfied platform filters and executionenvironments, plug-ins and fragments prevented from resolving duecontradictions between their versions and the a versioning convention ofthe software product, unavailable optional dependencies of plug-ins andfragments, hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that may not beresolved properly due to an absence of each missing optional dependency,unavailability of a particular version of optional dependencies(plug-ins and fragments) of plug-ins and fragments, and hierarchies ofplug-ins and fragments that may not be resolved properly due to anabsence of a particular version of each optional dependency.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, the software product being used for creatingintegrated development environments.
 8. A system comprising: a computersystem for developing a software product by performing a methodcomprising: receiving a request to evaluate a set of plug-ins andfragments corresponding to the software product as part of a qualityengineering investigation of the software product; and evaluating theset of plug-ins and fragments in response to the request, the evaluatingincluding: obtaining information pertaining to the set of plug-ins andfragments from a manifest corresponding to each plug-in and fragment inthe set of plug-ins and fragments available from a set of sitesregistered with a particular instance of the software product, whereineach site in the set of sites includes at least one plug-in in the setof plug-ins and fragments, wherein each fragment in the set of plug-insand fragments internationalizes a corresponding plug-in in the set ofplug-ins and fragments, and wherein the information includes versioninformation and dependency information for each plug-in and fragment inthe set of plug-ins and fragments; analyzing the information andperforming a set of tests to determine whether the set of plug-ins andfragments have any one of a set of issues, wherein the set of issuesincludes: an error relating to the manifest, an error relating to theversion information, and an error relating to the dependencyinformation; and providing, for each issue determined to be present,details regarding the issue, a cause of the issue, and detailscorresponding to resolution of the issue for use during the qualityengineering investigation.
 9. The system of claim 8, the evaluatingfurther comprising identifying a complete set of plug-ins and fragmentsexpected to compose the software product, wherein the obtaining andanalyzing are performed for each plug-in and fragment in the completeset of plug-ins and fragments.
 10. The system of claim 8, theinformation including: an identification, a version, and platformfilters, and the information further including one or more of: dependentplug-ins fragments, included plug-ins and fragments, and informationregarding host plug-ins.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein theproviding includes outputting a report containing the details for eachof a set of issues determined to be present in the set of plug-ins andfragments corresponding to the software product.
 12. The system of claim11, the report being in HTML format and including a plurality ofsections, each section corresponding to a unique type of issue.
 13. Thesystem of claim 8, the set of issues including: plug-ins and fragmentswith corrupted or no manifests and hierarchies of plug-ins and fragmentsthat are not resolved due to the plug-ins and fragments with corruptedor no manifests, fragments that are not resolved due to an absence oftheir host plug-ins, hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that are notresolved due to an unavailability of each missing host plug-in, plug-insand fragments that are prevented from resolving due to unsatisfiedplatform filters and execution environments, plug-ins and fragmentsprevented from resolving due contradictions between their versions andthe a versioning convention of the software product, unavailableoptional dependencies of plug-ins and fragments, hierarchies of plug-insand fragments that may not be resolved properly due to an absence ofeach missing optional dependency, unavailability of a particular versionof optional dependencies (plug-ins and fragments) of plug-ins andfragments, and hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that may not beresolved properly due to an absence of a particular version of eachoptional dependency.
 14. The system of claim 8, the software productbeing used for creating integrated development environments.
 15. Aprogram product stored on a computer readable storage device fordeveloping a software product, the computer readable storage devicecomprising program code for causing a computer system to perform amethod comprising: receiving a request to evaluate a set of plug-ins andfragments corresponding to the software product as part of a qualityengineering investigation of the software product; and evaluating theset of plug-ins and fragments in response to the request, the evaluatingincluding: obtaining information pertaining to the set of plug-ins andfragments from a manifest corresponding to each plug-in and fragment inthe set of plug-ins and fragments available from a set of sitesregistered with a particular instance of the software product, whereineach site in the set of sites includes at least one plug-in in the setof plug-ins and fragments, wherein each fragment in the set of plug-insand fragments internationalizes a corresponding plug-in in the set ofplug-ins and fragments, and wherein the information includes versioninformation and dependency information for each plug-in and fragment inthe set of plug-ins and fragments; analyzing the information andperforming a set of tests to determine whether the set of plug-ins andfragments have any one of a set of issues, wherein the set of issuesincludes: an error relating to the manifest, an error relating to theversion information, and an error relating to the dependencyinformation; and providing, for each issue determined to be present,details regarding the issue, a cause of the issue, and detailscorresponding to resolution of the issue for use during the qualityengineering investigation.
 16. The program product of claim 15, theevaluating further comprising identifying a complete set of plug-ins andfragments expected to compose the software product, wherein theobtaining and analyzing are performed for each plug-in and fragment inthe complete set of plug-ins and fragments.
 17. The program product ofclaim 15, the information including: an identification, a version, andplatform filters, and the information further including one or more of:dependent plug-ins fragments, included plug-ins and fragments, andinformation regarding host plug-ins.
 18. The program product of claim15, wherein the providing includes outputting a report containing thedetails for each of a set of issues determined to be present in the setof plug-ins and fragments corresponding to the software product.
 19. Theprogram product of claim 4, the report being in HTML format andincluding a plurality of sections, each section corresponding to aunique type of issue.
 20. The program product of claim 15, the set ofissues including: plug-ins and fragments with corrupted or no manifestsand hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due tothe plug-ins and fragments with corrupted or no manifests, fragmentsthat are not resolved due to an absence of their host plug-ins,hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that are not resolved due to anunavailability of each missing host plug-in, plug-ins and fragments thatare prevented from resolving due to unsatisfied platform filters andexecution environments, plug-ins and fragments prevented from resolvingdue contradictions between their versions and the a versioningconvention of the software product, unavailable optional dependencies ofplug-ins and fragments, hierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that maynot be configured properly due to an absence of each missing optionaldependency, unavailability of a particular version of optionaldependencies (plug-ins and fragments) of plug-ins and fragments, andhierarchies of plug-ins and fragments that may not be resolved due to anabsence of a particular version of each optional dependency.
 21. Theprogram product of claim 15, the software product being used forcreating integrated development environments.
 22. A method for deployinga system for developing a software product, the method comprising:providing a computer system configured to perform a method comprising:receiving a request to evaluate a set of plug-ins and fragmentscorresponding to the software product as part of a quality engineeringinvestigation of the software product; and evaluating the set ofplug-ins and fragments in response to the request, the evaluatingincluding: obtaining information pertaining to the set of plug-ins andfragments from a manifest corresponding to each plug-in and fragment inthe set of plug-ins and fragments available from a set of sitesregistered with a particular instance of the software product, whereineach site in the set of sites includes at least one plug-in in the setof plug-ins and fragments, wherein each fragment in the set of plug-insand fragments internationalizes a corresponding plug-in in the set ofplug-ins and fragments, and wherein the information includes versioninformation and dependency information for each plug-in and fragment inthe set of plug-ins and fragments; analyzing the information andperforming a set of tests to determine whether the set of plug-ins andfragments have any one of a set of issues, wherein the set of issuesincludes: an error relating to the manifest, an error relating to theversion information, and an error relating to the dependencyinformation; and providing, for each issue determined to be present,details regarding the issue, a cause of the issue, and detailscorresponding to resolution of the issue for use during the qualityengineering investigation.